To be able to use mobile data (e.g. 4G/ LTE) and mobile telephony (e.g. VoLTE) services on my smartphone, I need to put a SIM card into my smartphone (I know embedded-SIM/ eSIM exists but let's ignore that here). This SIM card is provided to me by a mobile network operator or mobile virtual network operator.
Let's assume that I am using an iPhone 11 and am a customer of Vodafone in Europe with a postpaid plan/ contract that includes telephony, SMS and data.
I became aware of the fact that there are multiple ways to attack a SIM card, e.g. Simjacker, WIBattack or SIM Card DES hack.
Here are some links:
- https://www.zdnet.com/article/new-sim-card-attack-disclosed-similar-to-simjacker/
- https://readwrite.com/2020/01/06/wib-vulnerability-sim-card-that-allows-hackers-to-takeover-phones/
- https://simjacker.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karsten_Nohl#SIM_Card_DES-Hack
Please note that I am not talking about the SIM swap scam.
There is also the SIM Application Toolkit (STK), the USIM Application Toolkit (USAT), the Card Application Toolkit (CAT) and the S@T browser.
Like all other types of technology humans have invented, I suppose there is a slow but constant change and evolution when it comes to SIM cards. These changes might affect the software or the hardware. SIM cards appear to be quite complex (A SIM card is a smart card) and I am not sure if an end user can start a SIM card's update process, if there is one at all.
Would it be useful or beneficial to occasionally (e.g. every 3 years) ask my mobile network operator Vodafone to provide me with a new SIM card? Then I would replace my old SIM card with the new one and permanently destroy the old one. My cellphone number and the phone itself stay the same, only the SIM card gets replaced.
